#Senaka Weeraratna
Please note that the following article was provided on the 9th of July 2020, before the Dornhorst Memorial Prize was amended to be awarded to the Most Outstanding Royalist on the 16th of July 2020
“All Royalists of the present generation should specially remember two great Royalists, whose defense of the College in its darkest days saved Royal. They are Sir Richard Morgan (1851) and Frederick Dornhorst, K.C. (1916)” ….. ……. S.S. Perera in History of Royal College
In this era of political correctness and moral extremism exemplified in the Me Too movement, the assault on ‘offensive’ statues of famous men with questionable attributes, etc, etc, let me tweak the nether regions of these evangelical reformists by featuring Donald Friend, an Australian homosexual and paedophile of a brazen disposition, who displayed a wide range of artistic talents and happened to sojourn in Ceylon for quite a while — linking up with the talented and wealthy Bawa brothers (themselves members of the gay middle class community in the island’s tolerant ‘climate’– an environment that also attracted Arthur C. Clarke) …. Michael Roberts
Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, Australian culture, australian media, cultural transmission, education, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, paintings, politIcal discourse, psychological urges, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Shanika Sriyananda in Sunday Observer, 12 June 2020, where the title runs “Saved through blood, sweat and tears”
Her voice quivers when she reads out the certificate given by the Government in honour of her son’s bravery; she could not find words to express her feelings. Even after nearly 21 years, she still cries recalling how her ‘Saliya putha’ embraced her before leaving home for duty, proudly carrying his uniform.
Filed under accountability, communal relations, historical interpretation, insurrections, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, modernity & modernization, performance, politIcal discourse, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil Tiger fighters, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, war reportage
Michael Roberts
I wonder how many people exploring the range of ruins at Polonnaruwa visit the Museum maintained by the Archaelogical Department (located near the rest house on the edge of the Parakrama Samudra? Its items are not brilliant, but there is some interesting fare. But let me pinpoint the pinnacle exhibit: a reconstruction of what today’s scholars think the everyday Sinhala cultivator lived in: a wattle and daub hut.
This edifice has been constructed beside the Museum, It is more than a little worse for ware ….. but the dilapidation adds lustrous realism to the scenario
Smrti Daniel, in Sunday Times, 12 July 2020, with this title “Fortifying Galle Fort. A massive project aims to restore the defence works from our colonial past”
As restrictions around the pandemic eased this month, a team of workers returned to Galle Fort. They are in the middle of a two-year restoration project that has them clambering over the great bastions, excavating echoing underground chambers and clearing out an ancient drainage system – all part of an ambitious effort to restore this UNESCO World Heritage Site to its full glory.
Conservation of the gun platforms of the Neptune Bastion
Leelananda de Silva, in Sunday Times, 5 July 2020
The Donoughmore Commission which came to Sri Lanka in the late 1920s made far reaching and far seeing recommendations, which changed the political, economic and social landscape of Ceylon. The present generation is largely unaware of its role and it is time that they refresh their understanding of the tremendous changes brought in by Donoughmore.
The Earl of Donoughmore
It was a commission consisting of three Britons — the Earl of Donoughmore, Drummond Shields and Burrows. They were political personalities well known in Britain at the time and were not colonial civil servants. They had the political and social vision to overcome the objections of both the colonial masters in Sri Lanka and the local dominant political personalities who were also not in favour of radical reforms.
Filed under British colonialism, communal relations, constitutional amendments, democratic measures, devolution, education, electoral structures, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, modernity & modernization, parliamentary elections, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, Uncategorized, unusual people, world events & processes
Michael Roberts
About 500 yards north of the hotel Trinco Blu at Nilaveli is a small rock promontory where a river inlet streams into the ocean. The inlet connects with the Tamil village of Thalli which is adjacent to the renowned temple of Thalli abutting the rock promontory on its northern side.
When I wandered down that way one morning with camera in hand, I was greeted warmly by an imposing 6ft/4 gentleman who introduced himself as Naguleswaran. He ushered me into the small lagoon crowded with shallow-bottom motorized fishing boats and showed me his boat.
Dishan Joseph, in Daily News, 10 July 2020, where the title runS SLAF Air Dog Unit: Canine ‘Scentsations’”
For seven decades the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has strategically guarded our nation’s aerial domain. Whilst most of us understand and recognise the air defence role of the SLAF, they have played an equally important role in ground operations. This covers a wider spectrum of protecting airfields, bases, training schools and air assets. Unnoticed by many, one of the silent stakeholders actively engaged in this protective function are the dog handlers and their robust canines.
thuppahi
